"Ajaccio Orphanage...?"

Lawrence took a breath and immediately became suspicious of why an orphanage would buy oats and bran on a regular basis.

Yaan also saw Lawrence's suspicions, explaining:

"According to the owner of the grain store, Mario Sr. himself said that he raised some livestock in the orphanage to supplement his income, but because the orphanage never received visitors, no one knew whether it was true or not."

Lawrence closed his eyes and rubbed his fingers at his temples in thought, for some reason, he always felt that he had heard the name of this orphanage somewhere.

After a long time of reminiscing, Lawrence suddenly remembered that it was in the council in early February.

Ciro did not comment on most of the ordinary bills, except for a bill to cut the budget for orphanages, which made Lawrence very strange at the time.

"Ciro Russell, it can't be that you still have a conscience to help orphans, right?"

Lawrence thought so, feeling that he had touched the thread of truth.

At this time, Anna saw that Lawrence and Yaan did not speak, and she also hesitated to step forward and said:

"Well, sir, were you talking about the Ajaccio orphanage?"

"Huh? Do you know that place? Lawrence asked, somewhat surprised.

"Know." Anna whispered:

"I once heard a child who escaped from there say that it does not accept orphans from outside, but only adopts young people and girls who are in good health. Also, it's strictly forbidden to go out without a permit. ”

Lawrence frowned and asked, "Anna, can you contact that child?" ”

Anna shook her head with a low expression and whispered:

"The kid was arrested less than a month after he came out."

"Your Excellency!"

Yaan looked at Lawrence with a solemn face, although he didn't say much, but he was always thinking about it, Anna's words and the existing information made this orphanage quite suspicious.

"It stands to reason that the orphanage would have wished that the children would have been taken away to save money, but this one is quite the opposite."

Lawrence sneered and said, he was already eighty percent sure, coupled with Anna's words, he had decided to visit this so-called orphanage tomorrow.

"That's right, Ya'an."

Lawrence suddenly stopped Ya'an, who was about to leave, and ordered:

"Before you take someone to the orphanage tomorrow morning, you can stop by the dessert shop and buy more cheese and pastry snacks."

"Dessert shop?"

Although Ya'an was puzzled, he nodded and took Lawrence's order to heart, and then left Lawrence's residence.

......

In the morning of the next day, according to Lawrence's order, Ya'an had arrived at the Ajaccio Orphanage ahead of schedule with about 20 people, and the entire building was cordoned off, not allowing anyone to enter or leave.

Located on the border of Xicheng and Nancheng, the orphanage covers a large area and has a three-story stone main building flanked by wooden huts and a courtyard facing the gate in front.

Due to its proximity to Xicheng District, the environment is very harsh, but the only advantage is that the land price here is cheap enough.

When Lawrence arrived, Ya'an had already sent someone to guard the door of the orphanage, and it seemed that there was some kind of conflict with the guards.

Lawrence did not rush into the conflict, but first circled around the orphanage.

According to his observations, the building should have had one door in each direction, but there were obvious signs of demolition on the surrounding walls, and only one main entrance remained.

In addition, the wall here is obviously much higher than the original one, and the boundary between the two walls is very clear.

In addition, Lawrence could not hear the slightest movement outside the wall, as if there was not a single living person in this huge compound.

After some brief reconnaissance, Lawrence made his way to the main entrance and identified himself to the guards who were confronting the patrolmen.

"What's wrong?"

Lawrence frowned and asked Xiang Ya'an, who had even drawn his saber and seemed to be on the verge of striking a blow with several guards armed with iron bars in front of the iron gate.

Before Ya'an could answer, one of the guards led by him had already shouted loudly:

"You are the captain of Bonaparte, you don't know what the patrolmen are doing with the orphanage, don't you know that there are all poor children who are lonely? Do you want to continue to intimidate them? ”

Originally, the confrontation between the patrolmen and the guards had already attracted a lot of onlookers, and after Lawrence appeared, many people came to watch the excitement.

The doorman's words also caused many onlookers to nod their heads, and some fragile women even began to take out their handkerchiefs to wipe the tears from the corners of their eyes after imagining the poor young girls.

"Ya'an, put your sword away."

Lawrence calmly instructed that he, knowing the importance of public opinion, would not enter into a confrontation with the orphanage before revealing its secrets.

Since it was Lawrence's order, Yaan had no choice but to put the sword in his sheath.

At that moment, a short, stocky, white-haired old man shakily stepped out of the courtyard, dressed in an old clergyman's robe, covered with patches and stains that would not be washed away, as if he had worn it all year round.

As soon as the old man came to the door, a crowd of onlookers recognized him:

"Look, it's Mario, the dean."

"His hair has turned a lot grayer, and it seems that he has too much to do with the children."

"After all, it's not easy to run such a large orphanage by yourself."

......

Lawrence squinted his eyes and looked at old Mario twice, then took two steps forward, kindly stretched out his right hand, and said with a smile:

"You're Dean Mario, I've admired my name for a long time."

Old Mario slowly stretched out his hand and shook it with Lawrence, squeezed out a smile on his wrinkled face, coughed and said:

"Ahem, Your Excellency Bonaparte, I wonder what you are here for...?"

"If you have official business, please bear with the dean."

"On official business?"

Old Mario jerked his hand back, and said in a voice that all the onlookers could hear, as if he were alarmed:

"Are you here to arrest people? God, we have only my old bones left here except for innocent children, how can there be criminals! The rest, it's just these doormen, they're all here, are you going to arrest someone? ”

Before Lawrence could reply, there were already whispers among the onlookers:

"Old Mario is right, except for the children in the orphanage, he and a few doormen are the only ones."

"It's like, the children are not allowed to go out, and old Mario is a devout who swore an oath to God, what are the patrolmen doing here?"

"Maybe Lord Bonaparte will have miscalculations sometimes."

......

Lawrence's face did not change, he still looked at old Mario with a smile, and slowly withdrew his right hand without losing his manners.

Originally, he was still a little skeptical, but after seeing Mario's performance up close, Lawrence was already 100% sure that there was definitely something in this orphanage that Mario didn't want to let him know.